Anti-Taylor PAC stirs selectman's supporters

Friday

May 5, 2017 at 11:56 AMMay 5, 2017 at 11:56 AM

Doreen Leggett dleggett@wickedlocal.com @dleggettCodder

CHATHAM -- Anne Timpson got the first negative e-mail about Seth Taylor from Chatham Citizens For A Responsible Government on March 31. Not long after, she had compiled 10 extensive bullet points on Taylor’s accomplishments and skills and sent her own mass e-mail out.

“Vote for Seth Taylor, the Future of Chatham Depends on Your Vote,” it said.

Timpson was not alone in her anger at the new PAC, which members said was started to contend with what they see as an increased level of corrosiveness in town politics. They think Taylor is at fault for that and have sent out e-mails that call into question how he handles himself at meetings.

Those who support Taylor say if PAC members are upset it is because Taylor doesn’t vote the way they want.

Gloria Freeman, who supports Taylor, said the PAC is just a more organized effort of what Taylor has faced for several years.

“From the beginning, he has been up against individuals who have hurled non-stop character assaults at him and have made all sorts of vile assertions that they would have the voters believe,” she said. “It is now time for voters to recognize the lies, exaggerations, and half-truths made by these operatives of a so-called "Political Action Committee" and by a group dedicated to their own personal advantage”

Timpson, Freeman and others stepped forward to speak out against the new group and for Taylor.

A number of people, even those who support candidate Shareen Davis, expressed displeasure at the formation of one in the small town of Chatham.

Davis herself is against Chatham Citizens for A Responsible Government.

“I condemn it,” she said publicly, drawing praise, and adding the next time it could be her.

Rick Leavitt, the spokesman for the PAC, has said the new group will take stances on a variety of town issues, including workforce housing and mooring reform. But the group is also committed to making sure Taylor isn’t re-elected.

They find him divisive. Leavitt said they aren't sending out any more e-mails. They feel the point has been made.

"People who support Seth Taylor don't like it, but it is the truth," he said. "Nothing that was printed in the e-mails was untruthful."

Leavitt added that the PAC has received a number of e-mails thanking them for their efforts and saying it was about time someone let folks know what was happening at public meetings that they don't get a chance to attend.

"We feel very comfortable that we have done our public service," he said.

His supporters don’t see it that way. David Farrell has known Taylor since the late 1960s when they played baseball together. He said he doesn’t know much about the PAC and its efforts, but he knows that Taylor voices what is usually on the mind of many in the community. Farrell said he appreciates Taylor questioning increased development and parking downtown, people should question that.

“The questions he raises are good ones about the changing character of the town,” said Farrell. “I don’t even go downtown (in the summer.) It’s lost to the people who live here.”

PAC members have been critical of Taylor chracterizations of fellow board members and how he called visitors a "swarm of locusts." Farrell said he speaks his mind.

“It’s public discourse. I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “Sometimes people can be diplomatic and not accomplish things.”

Jamie Bassett, a Taylor supporter, is not a critic of PACs in general. He just doesn’t trust this one.

"I have no problem with PACs, which can certainly be used to do good. However, this aberrant PAC was formed in the gutter and it's doing business in the gutter. Manipulation, fabrications, and deception seem to be what they are dealing in,” Bassett said, adding that he worries because he thinks Taylor is extremely hard-working and knowledgeable and the board needs someone like him.

Dan Meservey, who doesn’t see eye to eye with Taylor on every issue, appreciates him. Meservey, a former selectman, also thinks Davis is a good person. He said politics can be like a battery; you need opposing currents for it to work.

“I think that Seth has been that charging force,” he said.

The PAC, he says, is unnecessary.

“I don’t think we need a PAC in the town of Chatham,” he said. “We either like what they say or we don’t and we vote accordingly.”